My 12-year-old daughter scampered up a Perimeter Trail boulder, quickly picking her way to 30 feet in the air. She stood triumphantly on a ledge, arms thrown as wide as the smile on her face. I hesitated.
With its snaking climb around the Domain of Sewanee, the Perimeter Trail is often rated among the best natural trails in America. High atop the Cumberland Plateau, the trail provides astounding vistas of the central Tennessee countryside. Waterfalls, grottoes, thick vegetation and 200-year-old hardwoods line the trail. Massive boulders and towering cliffs bait the daring.
Those massive boulders and towering cliffs caught my attention that day. We've spent the last several Easters visiting our college kids at Sewanee. The university is a haven for those who want a stellar liberal arts education mixed with every outdoor opportunity imaginable. Sitting on 13,000 pristine acres, Sewanee is one of the largest campuses in the country.
My daughter stood on that boulder ledge and I watched her with pride and worry. She has her mother's daring, which I appreciate, but seeing the toes of her sneakers hanging over the ledge made me worry. I hesitated.
At what point should a parent draw the line between courage and folly? Was my daughter being brave or was she being reckless?
I remembered that scene as I watched an Academy Award-winning documentary that made it to the small screen recently. The movie, Free Solo, depicts Alex Honnold, a 33-year-old rock climber, and his quest to climb Yosemite's El Capitan without ropes or assistance of any kind. Meaning, he climbed with nothing but his hands and feet.
Let me repeat that. He climbed a sheer rock face with no safety equipment whatsoever.
There's courage and then there's folly. El Capitan is a granite wall reaching 3,000 feet into the sky and is a bucket-list endeavor for rock climbers. But no one had done it without ropes, without safety harnesses, without help. The thought of climbing El Capitan free solo seeped into Honnold's head and he never let it go.
The documentary is riveting even to this viewer with limited rock-climbing experience, and it's no wonder it won an Academy Award. Part of its allure is the dissection of undertaking unnecessary risks--folly--especially one that could easily end in death. Why would Honnold so easily swallow his innate fear to do this?
Free Solo follows Honnold through his years-long meticulous preparation for the climb. He repeatedly ascends the monolith with ropes, mapping and memorizing every single move. He plots his best course and practices finger holds and toe squeezes. On several practice runs, he loses his grip and falls only to be saved by his safety harness. The viewers can't help but shake their heads wondering if he's really going to try without the ropes someday.
Someday finally comes. Honnold drives to the base of El Capitan, and without a word begins climbing. Quickly, he's hundreds of feet high and grunting from exertion. He holds his body to the mountain with just fingertips and toes. One of the cameramen can't watch. Pointing his camera at the tiny speck on the wall, he looks away, head in hands.
Courage springs forth in so many ways. It's evident in the visually impaired walking a city street. It's illustrated in a shy kid raising her hand in class. It's obvious when one swallows hard and takes any step where the outcome is in doubt.
Risk-taking is natural and healthy in many ways. When there's the chance things won't go right, the results of success always seem sweeter. Cost versus benefit seems like a simple equation. So why do people take risks that could have catastrophic consequences?
But then again, why are others so risk-averse that their lives seem mundane? It's easy to stand motionless on the sidelines and decide not to speak up, speak out, or take a chance. We do so because inaction seems to result in fewer negative possibilities. That massive weight that pulls our mouths shut or keeps our legs from moving forward is heavy and easy to succumb to.
But it also kills one of the most important corners of our souls: our passion.
With breathtaking cinematography, Free Solo pushes the viewer to the edge of his seat. It's better than a well-written thriller, and as exciting as a championship game decided in the last few seconds. Is Honnold going to fall? Or will he summit to praise and worldwide acclaim?
His journey across the granite of El Capitan is incredible in every respect. I highly recommend seeing the movie.
As for my daughter standing high atop that boulder, I hesitated because she was testing the barometer of my parental responsibility.
Or she was just being a kid.
All those clouded thoughts I had might have been just flurries of worry, brainwaves wasted on overthinking. Maybe I should just take a deep breath and let a kid be a kid. Maybe I should let her decide whether she's experiencing courage or folly, whether to stand on the sidelines or embrace her passion.
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Steve Straessle, whose column appears every other Saturday, is the principal of Little Rock Catholic High School for Boys. You can reach him at sstraessle@lrchs.org.
Editorial on 05/04/2019